Seven Things
by blueandblack
Summary: A Jacob/Bella vignette, set during New Moon


I only ever listened to the radio in the car, and even then rarely. Still, even I recognized the song when it came blaring through the rabbit's shoddy speakers on a wave of static.

_I probably shouldn't say this _

_But at times I get so scared_

I groaned, reached over to switch stations, but Jacob's hand shot off the wheel and grabbed my wrist.

"My car, my music."

I blinked. "Miley Cyrus is _your music?"_

He grinned sheepishly. "I just like this one song, okay? It's catchy."

I couldn't decide whether I was more horrified or amused. "I think you mean catch_ing_ like a disease."

Jacob just chuckled, started singing along. That's right, _singing along,_ and with disturbing enthusiasm.

"The seven things I hate about you, ohhhh you! Come on, Bells, help me out here!"

He mumbled over a couple of lines, picked up again at _You made me laugh, you made me cry,_ his voice booming in the confined space.

I couldn't help but giggle, and eventually he goaded me so much to join in that I actually let out a squeaky little _I should probably mention the seven that I like,_ before stifling another giggle, cheeks reddening at my horrible vocals.

Jacob turned the volume right down.

"Aw, what are you doing?" I teased. "It's your favorite song, remember?"

He just glanced over at me, one eyebrow raised. "Well?"

I frowned. "Well what?"

His eyes were on the road again, mouth curving wickedly. "C'mon Bells, let's hear it. Seven things you like about me. Go."

It took a moment to click. The stupid song. The stupid line I'd joined in on. I rolled my eyes. "God, you can be so obnoxious, sometimes."

Jacob's expression didn't change, he was still staring straight ahead, still smiling that almost smug smile. "I did say 'like' but hey, I guess if you wanna do the other part of the song too, I can take it like a man."

I just shook my head, muttered "You idiot."

After a moment he glanced over at me again. "Well?"

I felt my eyes narrow. "Well _what?_ You don't think I'm actually going to do it, do you?"

"Why not? Don't you like me?" Jacob sighed heavily, a mockery of sadness. "I thought we were friends."

"Oh quit being such a - "

He sighed again, loudly, settled in a pout.

I threw my hands up in surrender, grumbled a little before saying "I'm only doing this to shut you up. Okay. One. You're nice and toasty when it's cold."

He grinned, murmured "Oh you have no idea how handy that could be."

I pretended not to hear him, stared stonily at the dashboard.

"Two…"

There was a long pause while I tried desperately to come up with something that he couldn't make a suggestive joke about. It was hard. Jacob had a knack for twisting my words that way.

I was still searching and coming up empty when he interrupted me.

"Oh this is so not good, you're already struggling at two?!"

A short giggle slipped out of my mouth. "Shut up, I'm thinking. Um… you're a better singer than I am."

He snorted contemptuously. "High praise."

"Oh, _thanks._ Shall I do the hate part now?"

I pushed at his shoulder and he swerved a little, chuckling to himself.

"Jeez Bells, driving here. Settle down."

I ignored him, chewed on my lower lip.

"Three. You're really… loyal." I felt a slight blush, scolded myself inwardly for it – _there is nothing wrong with saying he's loyal_ – added quickly "I don't mean to me, just, your friends and Billy. And the pack and stuff. That's what I mean."

I expected some crack about being a dog after all, but he just nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, I like that one. And I'm loyal to you too, you didn't need to go discounting that."

The stupid, irrational blush deepened and I found myself rubbing at my face, like that was going to help. Luckily Jacob's eyes were still firmly on the road.

I was biting my lip again, then the inside of my cheek, trying to think of something to say, something other than -

"Four. Um, your hair is nice. And your skin - five."

I skipped over those ones as quickly as I could, careful not to look at him, but it didn't matter – his pleasure was unmistakable, palpable, thick in the air.

_There's nothing wrong with saying he has nice hair. It_ is _nice. And skin. His skin is nice. Anybody would say that. It's just an objective fact. Moving on._

"Six. You always protect me, and I guess that's why I feel safe around you." I coughed out a laugh. "Which is pretty cool considering I'm a danger-magnet."

"Pretty cool," he echoed softly, "Nearly there."

I laughed again for no good reason, realized I was clutching at the sides of my seat.

"Seven. You're sort of funny sometimes. And sort of wiser than you should be."

Jacob glanced over at me, a small smile on his face, said in a low voice "That's eight, honey."


End file.
